Puck
A Sorcerer played by Brennan Lee Mulligan in Graduation Day (Advanced Camp 2007). Character Sheet Puck Age: 19 Gareth Meadows Gareth Meadows was born in Green Point, Brooklyn, to a pair of loving parents. Anthony and Maya Meadows were poet laureates and academics to the core, and raised their child with private tutors as they traveled around the world on lecture circuits and pleasure cruises. Gareth was always spoiled by his father, the most successful of the two parents. His father supported Gareth in the utmost, and when Gareth decided to become an actor, his father could not have been more proud. At the age of 7, Gareth started studying Shakespeare. A dramatic and tempermental child, Gareth didn’t hear no very often, except from his mother. But his father would always allow him to do anything, telling him one day he would take over the world. Gareth’s only shreds of maturity come from his relationship with his younger sister Jenny. His sister Jenny was born when Gareth was 8. Gareth loves Jenny dearly, but also views her as a possession, almost like a treasured doll, and doesn’t see her capacity to make decisions or have her own feelings. That same year, Anthony, his father was killed in a convenience store robbery. Gareth became Jenny’s father pretty much. His father’s death affected Gareth more than he could say. His temper became worse, his moods. He fell out of favor in his acting troupe, and his relationship with his mother became rockier. His mother, a manic-depressive woman, did not handle herself well, succumbing to grief and need instead of caring for her children. In the trial that followed Anthony’s death, Maya met and fell in love with John Cowen, the defense attorney for the murderers. John was a handsome, very gruff man. Maya, had often been unhappy with Anthony, and thought that being with a man exactly his opposite might satisfy her. Shortly after the trial, they became engaged, and the whole family left Green Point for a bad neighborhood in Queens, forcing Gareth to leave his acting troupe. John and Maya decided it would be a good idea to raise Jennny believing that John was her real father. A year later, Maya and John were married. Disgusted that his mother would remarry such a horrible person so quickly, Gareth began to hate his mother, and hate John. Gareth started acting against his family. He would fight John consistently. He even attempted to poison his coffee with ammonia one morning. Constantly arguing, Gareth’s explosive temper forced John into sending him to school. In public school, Gareth was constantly belittled and harassed, and succumbed quickly to the dark, gothic counter-culture. It was when Gareth revealed to Jenny that John was not her real father that things became problematic. So enraged that Gareth would disrupt a young girl’s fragile world-view, John had him sent to a mental institution. His mother wished him a fond farewell, but it was when Jenny cried her tearful goodbyes that Gareth really changed. He became obsessed with vengeance, with his own form of justice. Gareth spent many years at the mental institution, festering in his own anger and hatred. Falsely diagnosed with Schizophrenia, the therapy and treatments Gareth received actually made him Schizophrenic. Taking his cues from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Gareth rallied the other “prisoners,” as he called them. Slowly, he learned how to take leadership, eventually overtaking the entire establishment, subtly yet undeniably. Even the nurses and doctors feared him. His influence flowed everywhere. Gareth developed a library of contraband books, especially a book of Shakespeare which he treasured more than anything. Over time, Gareth began developing a talent. His manipulative side developed, and he found that by concentrating, he could force people to play out scenes from his plays. With a few words here and few comments there, he could make people fall in love, become rivals, become friends, fight or fall ill. One night, reading a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gareth recited Puck’s closing monologue. As he finished it, he though of Jenny, and he felt a pair of horns grow from his head. Gareth, in his pain and grief, had discovered magic. The next morning, a man arrived at the hospital. His name was Matthias Broguely.